Poroshenko names condition for elections in Donetsk, Luhansk

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko noted that the OSCE ODIHR official who was present at the meeting of the Tripartite Liaison Group (TLG) in Minsk expressed his clear view that coincides with the Ukrainian position.

Poroshenko said that Russia must withdraw its troops from Donbas / Photo from UNIAN

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk will only be held when Russia withdraws its troops, according to an UNIAN correspondent reporting from the joint press conference of Petro Poroshenko and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in Lviv after they opened Ukraine-2015 joint disaster response exercises within the framework of Partnership for Peace.

“The representative of the OSCE ODIHR was present [at the Meeting of the TLG], he expressed his clear position that coincides with the Ukrainian position. We want the elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk be very well prepared, as well as all conditions for the Ukrainian mass media, and the activities of the Ukrainian parties, and also the activities of Ukrainian election commissions; [we want] the gunmen removed from the streets, because elections cannot be held at gunpoint, the elections should be transparent."

As UNIAN reported earlier referring to zn.ua, there were active discussions during a September 19 trilateral meeting of the Contact Group in Minsk regarding a special law on the local elections in the militant-controlled territories of Donbas.